y don't ppl buy wider wheels instead of spacers?
 

i've notice alot of ppl lately have been getting spacers for there cars...and i think to myself and say...y buy spacers....y not just buy wider wheels.... personally i just think it looks much better w/ a wider wheel then using spacers....let's have a poll

I like the stock look not to mention the cost of new wheels and rubber. Can't stand the tuck look in the back, but don't want the front sticking out either. $165 or so for spacers or $800+ on new wheels.

Cause the Wheels I bought only come in 35 and 45 offset. I got 5mm spacers for the back to bring them to 30.

I voted for wider wheels and I won't put spacers unless there's only one kind of wheels in this world.


~limsandy

I believe Axis Hagens with 35mm offset will fit perfect on 5th gens, no?


~limsandy

well i'm in socal... i see spacers all the time...

usually on slammed mini-pickups with 14" wheels and the wheels stick out 3" past the fenders :lol:

also, you gotta be carying landscaping equipment to do it...

They do just they looked tucked in the back. I am going to put the 5mm on in spring if I don't like them I will take them off.

Price. I wanted some Milles and some dude quoted me for $2500. For that much i might as well get blown... supercharger that is.

LOL... :lol:

My advice is.... don't get spacers at all. It's your call though. :)


~limsandy

If they where bad then H&R wouldn't sell them.

People get spacers for various resons. For me it was a clearance issue. The wheels I got are 47mm offset (I didn't know that when I got them). Since I needed to get spacers I might as well get wide enough ones so the wheels get pushed out so they look some what flush with the fender. If I had to do it all over again I would get 35mm offser with 8" wide rims. But given the circumstances spacers are good option. Besides, spacers like H&R should not have adverse affect on suspension.

yeah but like I said my wheels which I wanted since I first saw them only come in 35 and 45 offset. The front is perfect the rear needs to come out a little bit reason I am going to try the 5mm spacer in the back and if I don't like it I will simple just take them off.
http://www.axiswheels.com/hagen.html

Personally I think buying spacers purely for cosmetic reasons is a dumb thing to do. The reason why people should be using spacers is to allow them to fit tires/wheels that would otherwise not fit, as in some of the cases above. Ideally, you should be buying wheels with the proper offset in the first place, but sometimes things don't work out that way for various reasons.

Spacers shouldn't be used unless you have to because it adds more mechanical complexity, and isn't exactly cheap if you want to do it properly. Besides that, I don't think that some of the spacers some people would like to use to alter their car's appearance, such as 10mm spacers, would really make that much difference for the amount of time and money it costs them.

If you want to get the tires closer to the fenders and give the car a wider stance you should IMHO:
1) Get a set of wheels with lower offsets.
2) Get a set of wider tires (often requires wider wheels).
3) Get wider tires on wider, lower offset wheels. I think this is probably most common because you can end up filling the wheelwells 100%, and get more traction as well.

My $0.02

Ok I figured I might give my opinion on this a little bit. My wheels 19x8 are a 45 offset. For those who are thinking WTF was he thinking buying a wheel with that offset...well I didnt know any better. I just bought the wheels because I liked the look of them NOT because of their fitment. So my only option was to get spacers. 5mm front and 15mm rear. Now everything is perfect looking. It very easy for someone to say blah...get a wider wheel or get a lower offset....but honestly its a little hard to change things after the fact. I mean hell the wheels cost $600 each not to mention the custom powder coating...then you add tires. To say the least spending $100 on spacers was not a problem at all to make it look better. YES if I could do it again I would have got a 35 offset all around with a 19x8.5. But I guess that will have to wait till the next set of wheels.

If rims you want don't come in offset you want, use H&R spacers. Otherwise, just get the rims w/ correct offset.

Can someone breifly explain offset to me?

Offset of a wheel is the distance from its hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel.

Lower the offset, further the wheel stick out.

I have 6mm spacers in the back of my car, because the wheels I bought were +45 offset, which is too high for my IRS. For all those who say, "buy the correct size", if you want to point me to a set of 18" SSR Integral A2s with the proper offset, for 50% off retail, I'll put my set on Ebay and buy them. :grinno:

"""Offset of a wheel is the distance from its hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel. Lower the offset, further the wheel stick out."""


I don't get it... I thought spacers increased the offset, bringing the wheels OUT, but I think you're saying spacers will bring them further IN???

I have a 3rd gen and i found a deal on some 19s with small tires. I had to buy 1 inch adpaters to make them fit but it worked out good for me. better stance but lighter weight then a 8.0" or 8.5 inch rim. which was a good for my old max.
http://www.rmbuckbuilders.com/bmode/int/back192.jpg

Yikes, this thread is back from the dead. Spacers decrease the positive offset, and therefore push the wheels farther out. The higher the positive offset, the further the wheels sit in the fender. Tirerack has a good explanation and picture of how offset works.

BTW, I now have 1/2" spacers in the front to clear my BBK :hide:

Spacers will decrease offset number. If you have wheel w/ 40mm offset and if you use 5mm spacer, your resulting offset will be 35mm.

There is a stickied thread in this forum for a wheel offset calculator that can help you understand how offset and spacers work.

I prefer not to use a spacer, but I do run a 5mm in the back, stock bolts of course. So effectively 37mm front and 32mm rear on 19x8.5 rims. There seems to be room for the wheels to be pushed out a bit more to fill up the wheelwell even better, so purely for aesthetic reasons...